Port Orchard Independent, October 18, 2013

October 18, 2013 edition of the Port Orchard Independent

INSIDE Sauer, Wilson named ‘2013 Man and Woman of the Year’ A3
BUSINESS MoonDogs honored as ‘Small Business of the Year’ A8
SPORTS Bell brothers help ring up Wolves’ win over Yelm A24
Port Orchard
FRIDAY, October 18, 2013 n Vol. 122, No. 41 n www.portorchardindependent.com n 50¢
Inside
A Section
Editorial
Robert Meadows
Scene & Heard
Sports
Legal Notices
Mary Colborn
Obituaries
A4
A4
A5
A6
A7
A7
A8
Inserts: Fred Meyer, RiteAid,
Office Depot, Best Buy, Staples,
Wal-Mart, Valassis
Printed with recycled paper and environmentally
friendly soybean oil-based ink.
Jesse Beals/Staff Photo
▼
shot in three of her home’s windows.
Cronan, who lives on the 200 block of
Flower Meadows Street in Port Orchard,
said she believed the attack was part of an
ongoing dispute with Keehn, whom she
alleges has been running a hair salon out
of her home without a business license
and in defiance of a city “stop-work”
order.
Keehn, 30, said she filed for permission
from the city of Port Orchard to operate
a hair salon out of her home on the 2300
block of Flower Avenue soon after pur-
TIM
MATTHES
CHARLOTTE
GARRIDO
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▼ Matthes, Garrido
advance in SK
commissioner race;
Dalton, Danielson
in judicial contest.
By CHARLIE BERMANT
Staff Writer
Expectations were turned on their head
in two Kitsap County political contests
during Tuesday night’s primary election,
as the perceived front-runners came in
third and were disqualified in their respective races.
Republican Tim Matthes drew the most
votes in the South Kitsap commissioner’s
race, followed by Democrat Charlotte
Garrido.
Monty Mahan, who was the first to declare for the seat and earned the endorsement of local mayors, came in third (See
related story, page A3).
BRUCE
DANIELSON
Editor
JEANETTE
DALTON
Christine Daniel served as timekeeper.
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
SEE UPSETS, PAGE A2
4DIPPMEJTUSJDUMPPLT
UPCBMBODFJUTCPPLT
Custodians won’t be replaced, $1.72
million will be taken from reserve fund.
▼
SEE SCHOOL, PAGE A2
activities she reported as stemming from
Keehn’s attempts to operate a business
out of her home.
Weaver said following an April 11 hearing with the city’s Hearing Examiner, certain conditions were placed on Keehn’s
permit to mitigate Cronan’s concerns before she would be allowed to operate her
business.
“(Keehn) has addressed all but one of
those conditions, with the last being the
letter from the (Kitsap County) Health
Department,” Weaver said, explaining
that Keehn’s current sewer facilities are
SEE NEIGHBORS, PAGE A2
South Kitsap’s Source for News & Information Since 1890
Q. What is your top priority for the
City of Port Orchard and why?
Ashby: My top priority would be
to bring back credibility to the city
council and to bring more citizens
input and transparency to the process.
We have a process where citizens are
allowed to speak at each council meeting. They are allowed to attend council committee meetings and workstudy session, but not allowed input.
See forum, A26
Chamber members had a chance to
hear from five of the six City Council
candidates during the Port Orchard
Chamber of Commerce’s candidate
forum held Oct. 10 at the Port Orchard
Pavilion.
Attending the forum was incumbent
Councilman At-Large Jerry Childs,
who is running against newcomer Eric
Gonnason; along with Bek Ashby and
Kim Punt, who are running for the
Position 2 seat held by Carolyn Powers.
Powers is retiring from the council
For and against
Nick Whittleton, chairman for the Committee Against the
Measure, said three reasons voters should vote against Prop.
No. 1 because if it passes the position of mayor will not appear
on any future ballots and people lose the executive branch of
government within the city.
He also said he opposes the measure because the council
combined two completely different issues into one ballot
measure.
“There has been no compelling reason, given or expressed
By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
chasing it last spring.
City Development Director James
Weaver confirmed that Keehn received
a conditional-use permit to operate a onechair hair salon out of her home, which
he described as “pretty innocuous” and
something that doesn’t typically reach
“the level of intensive use,” as far as
impacts on the neighborhood are concerned.
However, since November of 2007,
Cronan has filed multiple complaints with
the city regarding traffic, noise and other
Both sides report feeling harassed in rift over home business.
By JUSTINE FREDERIKSEN
Staff Writer
Tensions between two Port Orchard
neighbors that erupted after one attempted to open a home business last year led
both women to head down to the Kitsap
County Courthouse Monday and file restraining orders against each other.
Shelia Cronan, 49, said she filed a restraining order against Amber Keehn
after returning home from a camping trip
Aug. 17 and discovering pellets had been
SOUTH KITSAP’S SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS AND INFORMATION SINCE 1890
Editor
Dannie Oliveaux/Staff Photo
Four-year-old Addy Sprage, of Port Orchard, checks out a host of pumpkins during the Hootenanny event at Collelo’s on
Oct. 12. The event featured a pumpkin patch, free food, bounce house, games, live music, food vendors and fresh apple
cider.
City Council candidates address forum
City voters will have a chance to change the city’s status and
form of government during this year’s Nov. 5 general election.
Proposition No. 1 would authorize to change Port Orchard’s
classification from a second-class city to a noncharter code city
and to adopt a council-manager plan of government rather
than a mayor-council.
It’s not the first time the city has looked at changing to a
code city.
In May 2011, under Mayor Lary Coppola, the council
passed a resolution that changed the city’s classification from a
second-class to code city after several sparsely attended public
hearings about the issue.
In August 2011, the council rescinded the resolution. It
voted to retain the second-class status to save money after residents Gil and Kathy Michael collected about 550 signatures to
put the issue before citizens in the next election.
They got the signatures within 90 days of the council’s
vote for the status change — a deadline that the council and
city attorney mentioned several times at public hearings and
council meetings about the issue. But the Michaels missed a
deadline to get the measure placed on the November 2011
general election.
As a result, the next opportunity to vote on the issue was in
a special election in February 2012. The price tag for letting
citizens vote on the issue jumped from $5,000 for adding a
ballot measure to the November election, to up to $30,000 for
a special election if no other districts shared the cost.
Staff Writer
and pension rates along with inflation as
issues.
In addition to the money saved on custodians, Patton said the district will dip
into its reserve fund for $1.72 million.
She said that’s not all bad because the
district saved more than it anticipated in
its last fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31.
Patton said they also will save through
not filling other vacant positions in the
district, and through cutting expenses
on supplies.
The board unanimously adopted the
budget.
Patton warned in previous meetings
that the “hard decisions” likely won’t end
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
Neighbor denies pellet gun shooting
Groups state reasons why to vote
‘yes’ or ‘no’ for Propositon No. 1
this year. Also, incumbent Councilman
Rob Putannsuu attended the forum. He
is running unopposed for the Position
3 seat, as is Councilman Fred Chang,
who is running unopposed for the
Position 6 post.
Chang was unable to attend the
forum.
After each candidate gave a twominute opening speech, they were
allowed four minutes each to answer
two questions selected by the Chamber.
Port Orchard Independent Publisher
Sean McDonald moderated the forum,
while Chamber Executive Director
See prop. No. 1, A23
The South Kitsap School District is a
little closer to closing its $2.9 million deficit for the upcoming school year.
Terri Patton, assistant superintendent
for business and support services, said at
Wednesday’s school board meeting that
the district won’t replace five full-time
custodians who left the district after the
last school year.
She said that will save the district
$250,000.
Patton said the deficit stems from unforeseen circumstances when the district
presented its last levy to voters in 2004.
She cited escalating teacher salaries
Change of
city’s status,
government
in voters’ hand
hunting the perfect pumpkin
Cody Wright from Milford, Utah, got a mouth full of mud and a zero score after falling off Strawberry Delight in the
Saddle Bronc Riding competition Wednesday night at the Kitsap County Stampede. The fair runs through Sunday.
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